To The Metal

⁴³ After the two days He went forth from there into Galilee. ⁴⁴ For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. ⁴⁵ So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.

Healing a Nobleman’s Son

⁴⁶ Therefore He came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and was imploring Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸ So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see ^[a]signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” ⁴⁹ The royal official *said to Him, “^[b]Sir, come down before my child dies.” ⁵⁰ Jesus *said to him, “Go; your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off. ⁵¹ As he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his ^[c]son was living. ⁵² So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, “Yesterday at the ^[d]seventh hour the fever left him.” ⁵³ So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives”; and he himself believed and his whole household. ⁵⁴ This is again a second ^[e]sign that Jesus performed when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.

John 4:43-54

“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.”  I could feel frustration here, so many must see to believe.  In John 20:29, Jesus says “…Blessed are are they who did not see, and yet believed.”  The official asks Jesus to come with him, instead Jesus commands “Go; your son lives.”

The man saw nothing, but believed in the words of Jesus and went home.  His slaves met him on the way and confirmed that his son had been healed.  I see the officers next inquiry as more of curiosity than a lack of faith, as his faith in Christ is what healed his child.  The  boy was immediately healed at the same time the officer spoke with Jesus.

The first sign in Cana of Galilee was when Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding feast… The second was healing this boy, sight unseen.  The father’s faith brought him to belief, and the rest of his household followed.

³⁹ From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. ⁴¹ Many more believed because of His word; ⁴² and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”

John 4:39-42

At first, the Samaritans believed in Jesus because they saw the mighty transformation of the woman.  Jesus stayed for two days and taught them.  As a result of all He said, they believed in Him. They returned to the woman and made clear it was not her words, but His that brought them to believe He is the Christ.

This is a good lesson to all who choose to share the gospel to the unsaved.  It is not we who save, it is Jesus.  All we do is change the perspective of others, we point them to Jesus when they hear and see the fruit of the spirit through us.  He brings them to salvation.  In the end it is Jesus who knocks at the door to our hearts, and we who make the choice to let Him in.

³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” ³² But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³ So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” ³⁴ Jesus *said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. ³⁶ Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. ³⁷ For in this case the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”

John 4:31-38

Jesus speaks here of being fed by the Father, by doing His will and focusing on Him for all provision.  He sees the fields (of people, souls) ripe for harvest.  By bringing others to Christ, we reap that which God has sown and all rejoice!

The disciples reap what others have sown and in such work they share in the great responsibility of populating the kingdom of God.  We are all created to worship He who is glorified, our hearts must be opened to the Holy Spirit who restores our birthright through faith in Jesus Christ.

²⁷ And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”

²⁸ The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, ²⁹ “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” ³⁰ Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

John 4:27-30

Jesus is the Lord of all. His disciples marveled at and did not question that He spoke with a woman, let alone a Samaritan.  Both aspects of who he spoke with were contrary to the culture of this time where men were taught not to converse with women in public.

After the conversation with Jesus, the woman ran back to the city and testified to everyone what just happened.  “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?”  I’d wager the “city” knew all she ever did too, it was not a source of joy and likely why they reacted to her by seeking Jesus.

Consider the sin she had been living in, married 5 times, and now shacking up with another man who was not her husband.  She went to the well at noon, in the heat of the day instead of the cool of the morning because she had been shunned by her neighbors and was less likely to run into them at this time.

Now after this single experience face to face with Jesus Christ, she was so drastically transformed by her faith in God that the people who once cast her aside now heeded her words!

²⁵ The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”

²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

John 4:25-26

Humans can be thick headed at times.  I’m as guilty of it as the next.  I’m not sure if the woman at the well realized who Jesus was until He reminded her that final time “I who speak to you am He” or if she was just so overwhelmed she couldn’t comprehend it.

At the moment she realized that the Lord of all knew her personally and loved her, she simply could not contain it.  That reminds me of how I was before Christ.  A failed marriage.  Parents who wouldn’t speak to me (by my own doing).  Smoking.  Drinking.  Sleeping around.  I sought the flesh because I believed I did not deserve love.

Jesus proved otherwise.  I finally answered the door he’d been knocking at for 39 years and He knew my name.  He knew all I had done.  He forgave me and loved me.  I no longer wanted to stay the same, I wanted to change, I wanted to be more like Him and because of obedience to Him, I was saved.  

Like that unlovable woman at the well with 5 husbands and no hope, I could not contain it!  Jesus knew me, He restored my family, cut away my addictions, and set me free.

²³ But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. ²⁴ God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 4:23-24

Jesus declares that the time is at hand where those who believe and worship the Lord will do so anywhere, as long as it is done in spirit and truth.  The truth is His word!  The spirit is within us!  This is what the Father desires of us.  

No need for churches, temples, priests, or rituals to worship and praise Him anymore.  The veil has been torn and we can freely enter the holy of holies to meet and pray with our God, one on one until the day we go home to Him for eternity.   Hallelujah

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not ^[a]comprehend it.

John 1:1-5

John starts as Genesis did, and reveals that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God.  His Holy breath made that Word flesh, the completed creation that is God in flesh, Jesus Christ.  Jesus and God are One.  Know Christ, know the Father.  Know the Father, and you will know Jesus Christ.

He made all things, nothing has been made that was not made by Him.  He is the light of Creation and Life, the light of all men.  No darkness could ever overcome the perfect light of Jesus Christ.

⁵ And from the throne proceeded lightnings, ^[a]thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the^[b] seven Spirits of God.

⁶ Before the throne there ^[c]was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. ⁷ The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. ⁸ The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:

“Holy,^[d] holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!”

⁹ Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:

¹¹ “You are worthy, ^[e]O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they ^[f]exist and were created.”

Devotional – Revelation 4:5-11

The throne of God exudes His power in the form of lightning and peals of thunder.  The seven lamps of fire, the seven spirits of God, represent the perfect completeness of God, His Holy Spirit.  Four creatures full of eyes, angels, among the crystal like sea of glass ceaselessly worship and proclaim the Lord.

As they give glory to God, the 24 elders fall down before God in worship, and cast their crowns at His feet.  All praise and worship the eternal and living God!